Inglewood gets new music venue

Here’s a reason why Inglewood can make a legitimate claim to being the musical hub of Calgary.

Saturday afternoon at 1:30, the 180 seat Festival Hall — a dream and creation of the men and women who promote the Calgary Folk Festival — opens its doors at 1215 10th Avenue Southeast with a free concert.

The new performance hall joins two other established venues in the southeast neighbourhood.

(The) “Blues Can is quite reputable as a blues place, and The Ironwood we all know is a fantastic kind of live music venue,” says musician Chris Gehran, one of the artists who will be performing during the grand opening. “And I think … making Inglewood into our arts kind of destination for Calgary would be fantastic.”

As for Saturday’s opening performance, Gehran notes visitors will have a chance to see a wide variety of artists.

“We’re only going to be up there playing about three to five songs each,” he says. “So it’s going to be very kind of low impact for the artists, and kind of high numbers for the people there to watch, so you’re going to see a ton of different acts.”

The doors to the new venue open at 1:30, with the first act taking the stage at 2pm.